Wednesday 20 August we made our final preparations before heading off – we washed and waxed the car before garaging it – then at 4pm we were picked up for the trip to the airport. This was a pretty smooth uneventful ride around the M25 to Heathrow and we arrived at Terminal 5 by 6pm. We utilised the self-service terminals, printed our boarding passes and tagged our bags before dropping them off. Now unhindered by our luggage we cleared customs and headed to the pub for a quick bite to eat before ending up in a nice (but shockingly expensive) wine bar. By the time we had finished our wine the gate was showing on the indicator boards so we headed off on the train to the satellite gate. On arrival we were surprised to see that the plane was already boarding so no hanging around, we got straight on and claimed our economy bulk-head exit seats. I’m sure that British Airways have removed all padding from their economy seats but as we had a ‘buy one, get one free’ deal I shouldn’t really complain. Anyway, all hand luggage stowed in the upper lockers we settled in for our direct 14 hour flight. Lots of leg room but a shame about the numb bum and aching coccyx LOL.
Once we were in the air, the meal service started. It was pretty late by now (almost 11pm London time) and we got the usual food option of chicken or pasta – the chicken and rice was actually quite nice. I watched a movie, had a couple of drinks, then settled down to sleep….well, snoozed really…as there was a constant queue for the loo and the toilet flushed noisily all night… Never mind – 14 hours later we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, our first stop in Malaysia, and we were able to use the auto gates for immigration as I’d previously registered us online. Then we headed off to find the luggage. We waited and waited and waited….very annoying…but our Apple tags gave us comfort knowing that our bags had made the plane with us and had also arrived in Kuala Lumpur! Finally we got the cases and went through customs – which was really just putting them through an x-ray machine – and then out to the arrival hall.
We had been told that a driver would be waiting for us. As we were so late getting through we thought it was possible he may have given up. And, of course, as anticipated no-one was waiting. We spotted a tour company which had lists and lists of names and thankfully ours was on it! So we identified ourselves and they called the driver – we stood over to one side and, eventually after a bit of a wait, he turned up and whisked us off to our hotel in the City..
We checked in and took ourselves to our room – which was very nice – shame about the view of the traffic below LOL. We got ourselves cleaned up and went to the rooftop bar for a night cap. Well, it was hardly a bar, it was a waiter with a trolleyload of drinks waiting to serve us on an outside terrace. The views were nice though and it was lovely to be sitting in the warmth.
Afterwards we headed down to the bar located at the front of the hotel – almost in the foyer – and shared a pretty average pizza but thankfully they had some very nice wine! And so to bed absolutely shattered. We slept well but, because of the time difference, we awoke after only five hours which really wasn’t enough. Never mind….
Friday morning we headed down to breakfast and the buffet was great with lots of options – largely Asian – and, of course all Halal as Malaysia is an Islamic country. So we looked at the anaemic ‘steamed’ chicken sausages – yuck – and decided that the egg station, the toast machine, the fresh fruit and the pastries was our ‘go to’ option – surprisingly they did have baked beans LOL.
After a pretty good breakfast we headed out to the mall as Richard wanted to buy a new hat – we hadn’t brought our Australian ones with us as they don’t fold up and carrying them around when travelling is a bit of a pain. Anyway, there were no hats available, but we did manage to get some new batteries for our Apple air tags which had warned us they were running low….
Afterwards we walked up the road and got on the tourist Hop On, Hop Off city bus and followed the ‘green route’ for a couple of hours. We sat upstairs in the air but it was boiling hot and without hats we soon had to scarper inside for some air conditioned relief.
We got off at another mall and picked up some cold drinks as we were gasping by now (bad preparation on our part – don’t know what we were thinking to be out and about without at least one bottle of water between us!)….. Be warned – we found and used the facilities but there was no toilet paper available (they all have bidet hoses instead) – and only 50% of them were western style. Definitely wasn’t going to attempt the squatting type at this stage of our trip as my stiff legs hadn’t recovered from the travelling yet… Also all the toilet cubicles we came across (irrespective of style) were always soaking wet – the floors were often awash and all cubicles were built down a little step to avoid flooding – think people just spray around the whole thing to clean after using the facilities and, of course, no option for drying / mopping.
Having had a welcome air conditioned and comfort break we got back on the bus for another two hours – this time we followed the City route. We stayed under cover this time and were a little irritated by a loud group of American tourists who were clearly well out of their comfort zone and seemed to think that the driver would stop on demand. The funniest comment was that they were late for an appointment to go somewhere so they decided to get off and to get a taxi back to their hotel. As we spent the whole two hours navigating serious nose to bumper traffic not sure why they thought a taxi would be quicker as they would just end up in the same traffic jam LOL. We enjoyed the sights and sounds of the city as we drove around. Lots of contrasts – from modern high rise buildings to mosques, temples, green spaces and lots of hotels / restaurants etc.
Two hours later we got off the bus at the main terminal again – with pretty numb backsides – and walked back to our hotel. We had a glass of wine whilst we sorted out the Grab app (think Malaysian Uber) as we had tickets to visit the Petronas Towers in the evening. So we grabbed a sandwich which we shared while we activated the (data only) e-SIM which we had purchased.
Having ticked all the boxes – jobs done – we headed back to our room and sorted out some clothes / had another shower. The temperature was 39 degrees centigrade but the humidity was 88% and I, personally, found it difficult to walk too far in these conditions… Never mind….anyway, all cleaned up and dressed suitably modestly we headed back down to reception and booked a Grab to take us to the Towers. On arrival we exchanged our tickets for blue stickers and headed to the connecting bridge. Sadly we missed the sunset (we should have made it but the queues to get into the Towers – even though we had pre-purchased tickets) made it just a little too late. We then went to the 83rd floor for stunning city views and the light show on the neighbouring City buildings. Then we moved back down to the 81st floor where there is a whole area dedicated to the construction of the buildings and the project – it is a fascinating bit of architecture. The marine grade stainless steel (our assumption) cladding didn’t have a bit of rust on it…would love to know how they achieved that LOL. We thought that there would be rust at least at the rivetted points but none to be found.
Too soon it was time to return to ground level (all the timings are very carefully monitored by the staff to ensure that everyone gets a good experience and the lifts are not overloaded) and as usual ended up in the gift shop….and, of course, it would be rude not to purchase our ‘official’ photo LOL.
We then wandered into the up-market and modern KLCC Mall – which resides beneath – and found a Columbia stockist so Richard finally got his hat! So he was a very happy bunny. After making our important purchase we headed to the extensive food court and enjoyed a nice meal – Pakistani in origin but was more Turkish in it’s influence. Very nice too and very inexpensively priced… With soft drinks only as it was a strictly Halal experience.
We managed to get another Grab back to our hotel and purchased a bottle of wine for an in-room pontoonie before retiring after a pretty tiring day. But we had to do some admin – we were flying out of KL to Borneo (Sabah state) on Sunday – so checked in online in preparation for the next two flights. We also started taking our malaria tablets as we were going straight into the rainforest on arrival.
Saturday we were up early and met our driver / guide at 9am in reception after breakfast. We hopped into the car – very nice too.
We started off at the City Mosque which was sadly closed for refurbishment
then moved onto the National Monument where we came across this adorable local boy all dressed up in national costume in preparation for Malaysia Day….
Flags were flying everywhere and it all felt very festive. The main statue was commissioned by an American where they depicted Malaysians slaying the Japanese. Interestingly the faces of the Malaysia soldiers were all Western as the American who carved it had never seen a Malaysian in the flesh so the features were all wrong….but made for an interesting story!
We then headed to the Federal Court followed by the Railway Station and then to the Palace. The King was in residence (indicated by the flag being flown) and, another interesting fact here, there are a number of royal families in Malaysia and, to avoid conflict, they rotate every five years.
Then onto the Chinese Temple which was beautiful before heading to the Selangor Pewter factory. Interesting place and some beautiful items to purchase but, on a restricted luggage allowance, that wasn’t going to happen LOL. But we did enjoy seeing the Giant Tankard and some of the Formula 1 trophies that they manufacture. Afterwards we headed to the Batik Centre and enjoyed watching the artists designing by eye some fantastic materials….absolutely beautiful!
Then it was time to visit the Batu Caves – Hindu Temples carved into the rock at the top of a 272 step staircase which was tough. Then we went down 39 steps and up another 52 to the final temple where we had a blessing from the priest and got the marks on our foreheads which didn’t last long with all the significant sweating!! We enjoyed checking out the temples and watching one family carry a new born up the steps to be blessed – apparently this indicated that the couple had waited a long time before they were successful in their bid to have a family – so the precious cargo was very carefully carried up by the family swinging from a hammock until two large bamboo poles. Amazing!
Leaving the Caves behind we headed to the central market, wandered around the stalls, and then had a local lunch at a stall recommended by our guide. The food was OK but nothing to write home about – could have been hotter (in heat not spice) – but we enjoyed it nevertheless. After this we continued driving back to our hotel and had a coupe of hours rest…having organised a takeout breakfast for the Sunday morning as we were leaving very early.
Having rested up, got cleaned up and changed again, we then walked down the road to Jalan Alor which is a famous street food area – we chose a licensed place and sat down. The food was great, the beer was nice and cold, although there was a lot of Durian on sale which stinks the place out!
Leaving the street food area behind – having paid a handsome £30 for six beers and two meals (including Richard having an expensive tiger prawn dish) – we headed back towards the hotel. We stopped into another hostelry on the way – primarily to use the toilet facilities as I wanted a Western loo LOL.
Back to the hotel we packed and organised ourselves for the very early start in the morning on our journey to Borneo.
So that brings part 1 to a close, more to follow soon, bye for now.
Jan